Can You Chase Away the Darkness?
by DreamersInGraves
Summary: After having a nightmare horrible enough to cause Raven to destroy her room, the man she has secretly fallen in love with comes to her rescue. Little does she know, the man is also in love with her. What happens when these two find comfort in each other? (Clearly, I suck at reviews.)


The flames that surrounded her threatened to lick her, tauntingly dancing near here but never touching her pale skin. Her powers were not cooperating with her and wouldn't break the chains that gripped her wrist. Her bare back was pressed against the cold metal wall, rendering her useless. Mauve hair clung to her clammy brow but it did nothing to shield her eyes from the sight of her friends slowly burning in the fire. Their shrill screams rang through the room and haunted her ears, and she struggled against her restraints to save them. But it was all in vain. The steel chains didn't even budge.

"Save us, Raven," Richard cried as his face melted away.

Koriand'r looked as terrified as ever as her flesh continued to be engulfed in flames. "Raven, help!"

Garfield didn't say a word but instead painfully screamed, the noise clanging against the walls.

"Raven, please," Victor begged, half of his body already burned down the the bone. "Help us."

"Raven!"

"Raven!"

"Raven!"

"Raven!

"Raven!"

She wanted to scream, to break her chains and help her friends, but she couldn't. Tears streamed down her face as she was forced to watch her friends' death. A mixture of desperation, adrenaline, and rage coursed through her veins and she fought against the chains even though she knew it was no use. Without her powers, she was helpless. She tried turning away, to force her eyes to stare at anything but her burning friends, but she simply couldn't. No matter how much it killed her, the urge to watch them was impossible to resist. It was barbarous, ruthless, absolutely evil, ungodly torture.

"Hard, isn't it?" a smug voice echoed, "watching the only people you've ever cared for, ever loved, burn before your eyes?" The voice sounded eerily familiar but she was too focused on trying to break free to think of a face to match. She had to break free. She had to extinguish the flames. She had to save them.

The voice grew closer as it mockingly asked, "What's the matter, can't break free, Little Bird? Why don't you just fly away?" It felt as if the voice was whispering in her ear at this point, fueling her recklessness even more. "Has someone cut your wings?"

"Shut up, you sick, demented bastard," she screamed, angry and panicked tears running down her face.

"It's not nice to call people names. Didn't your parents teach you better? Oh, wait, your parents never bothered to acknowledge your presence. All you were to your mother was a reminder of her pain. Your father only used to so he could end the world. Such a sad, sad little girl."

The mixture of the sadistic voice and her friends' screams was too much. She knew she would go mad. Her sanity crumbled more and more as the seconds ticked by. Her friends screeched her name, begging for her help, and it crushed every fiber in her being that she was useless. She couldn't help them. She was a pathetic mess of tears as her friends slowly died in front of her.

"Help us, Raven!

"You were always worthless. Everyone saw it. They only took you in and made you part of the team because they pitied you, the creepy girl who was too scared to come out from under her hood," the voice continued to say in the same heartless manner.

"Do something, Raven!"

"After all, who could be friends with someone who spends her time reading books, constantly locked up in her room, surrounding herself with morbid things to comfort her?"

"Save us, Raven!"

"An emotionless robot with one purpose: to help her father destroy this wasteland."

She couldn't take it anymore. A animalistic scream clawed its way up her throat and flung itself out of her mouth, her vocal cords burning from the strain but she didn't care. She wanted to rip the source of the voice to shreds for killing her friends, for binding her, for forcing her to watch.

"Watch your temper, Little Bird. It's what got you in this situation in the first place."

Suddenly, a glass wall fell from the ceiling and separated the prisoner from her friends. The room grew dark and the only source of light was the flames that were burning her friends. Their pain-filled, agonizing eyes watched her as they called her name but she couldn't hear them. All she could hear was the scarily familiar voice maniacally laughing, and it made her heart race with fury and fear. A single light shone over a metal door she never bothered to notice and, before she could ask any questions, the source of the voice was revealed.

And she screamed. She screamed until she swore her lungs had melted away and her vocal cords were bleeding. Thrashing against the chains, she wildly shook her head as she continued to wail.

It was impossible.

This couldn't be happening.

But it was possible.

And it was happening.

And she was forced to watch it unfold in front of her.

"Surprised, Little Bird?"

The source of the voice was herself but instead of wearing her usual purple cloak and leotard she was wearing a red cloak and leotard, a pair of four red glowing eyes wickedly shining. She watched her demonized-self walk around the white floor. Terror along with a million questions filled her mind and she felt so overwhelmed, the only thing she could do was scream even more.

"Now, don't lose you singing voice," Red Raven said with a chuckle. She then bent down in front of Raven, their faces a mere centimeters apart, and the smell of decay violated Raven's nose. "How does it feel to be the cause of your friends' death?"

"What are you talking about?" Raven asked, her voice shaking with raw emotion.

"You don't see it, do you? While you're happily restrained, your friends are dealing with the consequence of your rage. You're a _demon_. Your sole purpose is destruction. You might be able to control your emotions, control the demonic impulses that tug at you, but you won't be able for long. It'll be too much. The impulses will be too great to ignore and you will fulfill your destiny. You will destroy everything in your path." As she explained this, Red Raven adopted the most vile, sadistic grin Raven had ever seen in her life. The demon's eyes glowed with such a nefarious glee, it chilled Raven down to the bone.

"You're wrong," Raven croaked.

"Am I?" Red Raven challenged. The same malicious smile on her lips, she pulled a mirror from her cloak and held it up for Raven to see her reflection. "It looks like I'm quite right, Little Bird."

Instead of her own face, the sorceress saw Red Raven's. And that alone was enough to make her shriek and break down in tears.

* * *

Raven awoke to a shattering noise in her room. Her breathing was so erratic, she was sure she was going to pass out, and her heart felt like it was trying to beat straight from her chest. She tried to wipe away the sweat that clung to her hair but her shaking hand wouldn't allow her to. Anxiety swam through her entire body, causing her to buck her knees up to her chest and rock back and forth. Her fingers weaved their way through her hair and tugged at it until her scalp throbbed from pain. She needed to calm down, to steady her breath and heart-rate before her powers began to go haywire from her emotions. Trying to find something to concentrate on, her eyes scanned her room and she noticed it was a complete disaster.

Books and papers were thrown around her room; mirrors and statues were broken, their pieces scattered everywhere; her curtains were ripped from their rod and laid on the floor; clothes were strewn over furniture and torn to shreds. Things continued to break and fly around her room as she struggled to maintain control, causing her to panic even more.

 _Breathe, Raven_ , she chanted to herself as if it were a spell. _You just need to breathe and clear your mind._

A knock at her bedroom door temporarily distracted the half-demon from her inner turmoil and she fought the urge to hide under her blankets as she called out, "What?"

"Rae, are you okay?"

She immediately recognized the voice because it was the same voice that made her heart do leaps all the way up to her throat and down to her stomach where it exploded into butterflies. It was the voice that could instantly brighten her day. It was the voice that she fell in love with years ago but would never admit it to the owner.

Of course out of all of her roommates, it had to be him that came to her rescue.

"I heard a bunch of crashing noises and stuff and I got worried..."

Instead of answering, Raven pulled a nearby cloak over her body and walked up to the door. It opened and she stood face-to-face with a very worried-looking Garfield. His usually perky ears were dropping, and waves of concern washed off of him like an ocean tide. It was enough to make Raven feel, even for a split second before she squished the emotion down, flattered.

Her dream flashed before her eyes and the terror gripped her heart once again. Garfield's lips were forming words but she couldn't hear them. All that filled her ears was the sound of him screaming her name, begging for her help, and all she wanted to do was make sure it was just a dream. It was a just a sick, twisted nightmare her subconscious decided to torture her with.

The pale girl's fingers found themselves on the green man's bicep, then on his shoulder, and then rested on his neck where she felt his pulse beating rapidly. Her empathic powers sensed the confusion, excitement, and concern he felt, and she held tight on those emotions.

His emerald eyes found her dark ones, a mixture of feelings swimming in them, and he finally said, "Raven?"

But she didn't answer him. She didn't utter one damn word as she gave into the impulse that had been tugging at her since they were teens.

The feeling of his lips against hers was a feeling she could never explain. It was electric and, at the same time, the gentle breeze of an autumn night. It made storms in her mind and heart and her skin sizzle, but it also eased every muscle and she could finally think clearly for once. It was a question finally answered but she wanted more, _needed_ more. She needed all of it. She needed all of him. She needed every emotion, every thought, every tear, every inch of skin...

The kiss took a dramatic turn towards pure passion when Garfield's hands wrapped around her waist and pulled her towards him until their chests touched, leaving no room between the two bodies. Emotions were flying off of him and hitting Raven like a ton a bricks but she didn't care. She was drowning in his emotions and she loved it.

That is, until all of the light bulbs in the long hallway shattered.

They both pulled away panting and sweaty, cheeks flushed and eyes shining bright. All that emitted from Garfield was pure, unadulterated love and it showed in his face. His strong arms were still coiled around Raven's slim waste with no sign of letting go and he rested his forehead against hers.

"That was...surprising," he said after a few minutes of comfortable silence.

"I'm assuming it was as good for you as it was for me," Raven said, her fingers tracing patterns on his broad shoulder.

He laughed wholeheartedly and shook his head with a smile. "I've been dreaming about that kiss since we were teenagers. Duh, it was good.. But can I ask why?" Her happy mood died out as she recalled the nightmare, and it must have shown in her expression because Garfield's face grew worried. "Rae, what's wrong?"

She pulled her head away from his and bit her lip, debating on whether or not to tell him about her dream. Anxiety started to peak its ugly head and she could feel her emotions bubbling up again.

"Raven, tell me, please?"

"I had a nightmare," she blurted out. "I was chained up and forced to watch you, Victor, Richard, and Koriand'r burn to death." It was best she left out the part about Red Raven being the one who set the fire.

Garfield brushed his hand against her cheek, his fingers gently resting on her skin, and he explained, "Raven, that's never going to happen. We're a team. If one of us goes down, all of us go down." The changeling's smile was one of comfort, and Raven couldn't help but put faith in his words. Garfield had matured so much since their teen days. Though his humor and silliness was still lingering in him, he had began to realize that there were times where the jokes had to stop. It was around that time that Raven had begun to fall for the green man.

"Did you just kiss me to comfort yourself?" His voice was rough. Not the sexy kind of rough it was a few minutes ago but a heart-tugging rough that made you want to hug him.

But Raven didn't want to hug him. She wanted to slap him upside the head instead. And she would have if she hadn't felt the insecurity and self-doubt roll off of him. "Why do you ask that?" she questioned, straining to make her voice as gentle as she could.

His gaze focused on anything but her as he explained. "I just figured you and Richard have that whole 'I get you, you get me' thing going on so you would like him. He's all dark and stuff like you, and he's a good guy. Strong, a good leader, pretty good-looking. All that jazz."

That shocked Raven so much, she actually pushed Garfield off of her. She was beyond angry and offended. Didn't Garfield know her better than that? Didn't he know she wasn't just some impulsive twit who would run to the nearest person and seek any form of comfort? And he compared himself to _Richard_ of all people? The two were polar opposites!

"Yes, Richard and I do understand each other but he doesn't give me butterflies like you do. He can't make me smile like you do. You pull me out of my comfort-zone and show me things I've never felt anymore. You have a certain effect on me that no one else does. That's why I kissed you, Garfield." Her voice was no longer gentle and had a sharp tone in it that distinctly reminded her of a snake attacking. "You honestly think I would kiss you just to feel better after having a stupid nightmare? Do you know me at all after being on the same team with me for years? I honestly care about you and—"

Garfield used the most effect way to end her rant: a kiss. This kiss was so different than the last one. There was no tenderness or just a gentle peck. This was pure passion, desire, and sexual tension. Years and years of biting tongues, sneaking glances, and avoidance were being released in one, swift movement. The changeling's fingers wove themselves through her mauve hair, and the sorceress wrapped her legs around his waist so tight that he might just explode. But she didn't care. She didn't care that yet another light broke. She didn't care if anything else broke. Hell, she didn't care if anyone saw.

All she cared about was the man in her arms kissing her so hard, she knew there would be evidence of it in the morning.

* * *

 _This is why I should never attempt to write fluff at 4 in the morning. I swear it started out as fluff and it somehow morphed into, well,_ this _. I will never understand why my brain doesn't allow me to write fluff when I'm sleep-deprived. Anyway, reviews are greatly appreciated!  
_

 _~ **DreamersInGraves**_


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